Dual motion child resistant closure

ABSTRACT

A closure includes a cap member having a flexible sidewall adapted to engage a lip around the neck of a container. An outer member surrounds the cap member and includes a side wall closely engaging the flexible side wall to limit the expansion thereof. Removal of the closure is facilitated by depressing the outer member toward the neck and simultaneously pressing against the outer side wall to pivot the closure away from the neck.

United States Patent [191 Kropp Nov. 19, 1974 DUAL MOTION CHILDRESISTANT CLOSURE [75] Inventor: Willis A. Kropp, Deland, Fla. [73]Assignee: Alexander C. Hunt, Orlando, Fla.

[22] Filed: Feb. 12, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 331,765

[52] US. Cl. 215/225 [51] Int. Cl. B65d 85/56, B65d 55/02, A6lj 1/00[58] Field of Search 215/9, 95, 46 R, 225, 200

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,779,412 12/1973 Kirton215/9 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,467,864 12/1966 France 215/95Primary Examiner-George T. Hall Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Duckworth,Hobby & Allen [5 7] ABSTRACT A closure includes a cap member having aflexible sidewall adapted to engage a lip around the neck of acontainer. An outer member surrounds the cap member and includes a sidewall closely engaging the flexible side wall to limit the expansionthereof. Removal of the closure is facilitated by depressing the outermember toward the neck and simultaneously pressing against the outerside wall to pivot the closure away from the neck.

18 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures 1 DUAL MOTION CHILD RESISTANT CLOSUREBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Recently, congressional legislation has beenenacted which requires that closures for such containers meet certainminimum standards of difficulty with regard to the ability of smallchildren to open them. Briefly, this enactment contemplates the use ofpanels of children in graduated age brackets, in which a minimumpercentage in each bracket must be unable to open a given closure, inorder for that closure to be approved for use.

A wide variety of child-resistant closure arrangments have beensuggested in the prior art. Some of these previous arrangements, devisedprior to the abovedescribed congressional enactment, do not meet thespecified requirements and are therefore not suited for commercial use.Other techniques, while meeting these requirements, are prohibitivelyexpensive to make. Certain prior art closures are adapted to only matewith a container havinga specific interconnecting arrangement at thevneck of the container, and are thus undesirable in that such closurescannot be universally adapted to a variety of containers.

One type of prior art, closure employs an arrangement requiring twosimultaneous conflicting motions to facilitate removalof the closure. Anexample of such closures ispresently used for some childrens aspirincontainers, and employs a single cap member having a resilientinsertinsidethe cap. This closure is adapted to only mate withacontainer having a specific latch-andcam lip on the neck, such thatremoval is caused by first.

pressing the cap toward the neck and simultaneously rotating the caparound the neck. A closure of this nature is disclosed by St. Denis inUS. Pat. no. 3,557,985. Another cam-type arrangement is taught byDonovan in US. Pat. No. 3,398,848, in which the cam is formed asridgesextending axial with the opening in the neck of the container.

Moller, in US. Pat. No. 3,434,614, teaches a closure having a singlecapmember with a resilienttop and a lipengagingrim around the peripherythereof. Removal of this closure is facilitated by simultaneouslypressing in the resilient top and lifting the rim away from the lip.

Berg, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,796, discloses a twomember closure with aninner member fitting over the lip normally employed at the extremity ofthe neck of neously pressing the center of the inner member downward todecouple the inner member from the lip.

Examples of other prior art closure arrangements are also disclosed inthe following US. Patents: US. Pat. No. 2,953,271 to I-Iohl; US. Pat.No. 3,391,813 to Gibson; US Pat. No. 3,471,052 to Atkins; US. Pat. No.3,494,497 to Vercilo; US. Pat. No. 3,559,832 to Balducci; and US Pat.No. 3,362,556 to Waldrum.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a closureadapted to be secured on the neck of a container of the type having alip surrounding at least a portion of the periphery of the neck. Theclosure comprises a cap member adapted to be fitted over the neck, andhas a flexible side wall adapted to engage the lip. Means are includedfor limiting the expansion of the flexible side wall.

The Drawing FIG. 1 is a cross sectional side view of a closure inaccordance with the present invention. FIGS. 2 and 3 are cross-sectionalside views of the closure of FIG. 1, depicting the manner in whichremoval of the closure is facilitated.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of a second embodiment of aclosure in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views, partially crosssectioned, ofportions of the closure of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of a third embodiment of a closurein accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are perspective views, partially crosssectioned, ofportions of the closureof FIG. 7.

Detailed Description tively comprise intermittent'lip portionssurroundingthe neck.

The closure 10 includes a cap member 18 which'is adapted to fit over theneck 12. The cap member'l8" has a flexible sidewall 20 which surroundsthe neck'l2, and includes a rim 22 engaging the lip 16. Preferably, thecap member 18 and the flexible side wall'20' are integrally formed froma compliant "material having a highelasticity-factor. I

The presentinvention contemplates means for limiting the expansion ofthe flexible side 'wall 20.1n'this embodiment, the expansion limitingmeans "comprises a noncompliant outer member 24h'avinga side wall'26'surrounding and closely engaging the flexible sidewall 20'of the capmember 18. Theouter side wall 26*includes a collet, or crimp 28extendingarou'nd 'theextremity of the-flexible side wall 20 and overlapping therim 22. Suitably, the outer member 24"and the associ ated side wall 26are integrally formed'froma material' having a low elasticity factor,such as aluminum, for ex ample. Resilient means, such as a spring30,'are inter posed between the cap member-l8 and the outer member-24.

The closure further comprises means for coupling the outer member 24 tothe cap member 18 when the outer member is depressed in a directiontoward the neck 12. In this embodiment, the coupling means contemplatesan opening 32 in the outer member 24 which is substantially axial withthe direction toward the neck 12. As slmwn in FIG. 1, the openin g2 isdefined by an inner wall 33 with the spring 30 interposed between theinner wall and the outer side wall 26. The cap member 18 includes a stem34 extending away from the cap member axial with and into the opening32. The stem 34 preferably has a cross-sectional shape and dimensionproximal to the cap member 18 corresponding to the shape and dimensionof the opening 32, in order that the periphery of the opening engagesthe proximal portion of the stem when the outer member 24 is depressedtoward the neck 12, as will be more fully described below. Suitably, thedimension of the portion of the stem 34 distal to the cap member 18 issmaller relative to the like dimension of the proximal portion.

The manner in which removal of the closure 10 is facilitated will now bedescribed. Noting FIG. 2, the outer member 24 is initially pressedtoward the neck 12 of the container 14, as shown by arrows 40. Due tothis movement, the spring 30 is compressed against the cap member 18,relieving the bias of the spring and thereby causing the pressure of therim 22 against the lip 16 to be relaxed. This relaxation of pressure isallowed by virtue of the downward movement of the crimp 28 away from therim 22. Additionally, the periphery of the opening 32 in the outermember 24 engages the stem 34.

The second of the two conflicting motions is applied as follows. Whilethe outer member 24 is maintained in this depressed position, the outerside wall 26 is pressed in a direction away from the neck 12 at a pointdistal from the lip 16 (note arrow 42).

Reference is now made to FIG. 3. As a result of the two simultaneousconflicting motions, the rim 22 is moved over the lip 16 in the vicinitybelow the pressure point on the outer side wall 26. The closure 10 isthen moved about a fulcrum 44 and away from the container 14. Duringthis sideward movement, the engagement of the periphery of the opening32 to the stem 34 looks the outer and cap members 24, 18 together andassists in transferring the force from the sideward pressure against theouter side wall 26, into the movement of the rim 22 over the lip 16.

A second embodiment of the closure of the present invention is shown anddescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through :6. Noting FIG. 4, thisclosure arrangment, referred to generally as 50, comprises a cap member52 having a flexible side wall 54 surrounding the neck 12, and furtherincluding a rim 56 engaging the lip 16. The closure 50 includes an outermember 58 having an outer side wall 60 surrounding and closely engaginga portion of the flexible side wall 54 of the cap member 52. The outermember 58 includes a thickened portion 62 at the extremity of the outerside wall 60, serving a similar purpose as the crimp 28 of the closure10 in FIG. 1.

The cap member 52 of closure 50 further includes a generally cone-shapedresilient member 64 extending into the space between the cap member andthe outer member 58. The outer extremity of the resilient member 64 isdimensioned such as to engage the outer side wall 60 when the outermember 58 is depressed toward the neck 12. Thus configured, thecone-shaped resilient member 64 serves the function of the spring 30 andthe closure 10 of FIG. 1, and also serves the function of the stem 34,in that engagement of the resilient member 64 with the outer side wall60 assists in transferring the sideward force to movement of the rim 54over the lip 16.

A third embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 7 through9. This embodiment comprises a closure, referred to generally as 70,having a cap member 72 similar to the cap 52 of FIGS. 4 and 5, and whichincludes a resilient cone-shaped member 74. In addition, the cap member72 includes an upwardly extending cylindrical stem 76 having supportingstruts 78 disposed around the inner periphery thereof.

The closure further includes an outer member 80 having an outwardlybeveled side wall 82 engaging the cap member 72 only at the rim 84 whenthe outer member is not depressed. The outer member 80 includes anopening 86, the periphery of which is adapted to engage to cylindricalstem 76 of the cap member 72 when the outer member 80 is depressedtoward the neck 12. The cylindrical stem 76 and the opening 86 thusassist removal of the closure 70 in a manner similar to the stem 34 andopening 32 of the closure 10 in FIG. 1.

A closure in accordance with the present invention has severaladvantages. The requirement of two simultaneous conflicting motionsnecessary to remove the closure is relatively difficult, and is believedto meet the minimum requirements discussed above. Further, the closureis adapted for use with a variety of containers. In addition, theclosure is rugged and can be massproduced using low cost plasticextrusion and molding technology.

I claim: I

1. A closure adapted to be secured on a neck of a container of the typehaving a lip surrounding at least a portion of the periphery of saidneck, said closure comprising:

a cap member adapted to fit over said neck and having a flexible sidewall adapted to engage said lip;

means for limiting the expansion of said flexible side wall and meansfor providing resiliency between said cap member and said expansionlimiting means.

2. A closure as recited in claim 1 wherein said expansion limiting meanscomprises an outer member having a side wall surrounding said flexibleside wall of said cap member.

3. A closure as recited in claim 1 wherein said resiliency providingmeans comprises a portion of said cap member.

4. A closure as recited in claim 2 wherein said flexible side wallfurther comprises:

a rim at the extremity thereof, said rim adapted to engage said lip; andwherein removal of said closure is only facilitated by first depressingsaid outer member in a direction toward said neck so as to decouple saidrim from said lip, and simultaneously pressing against said sidewall ofsaid outer member and away from said neck at a point distal from saidlip, so as to move said rim over said lip.

5. A closure as recited in claim 4 further comprising said side wall ofsaid outer member having a crimp overlapping said rim.

A qlq ur as recited ins m rther. 99U1Biz means for coupling said outermember to said cap member when said outer member is depressed towardsaid neck.

7. A closure as recited in claim 6 wherein said coupling meanscomprises:

said outer member having an opening therethrough substantially axialwith said direction toward said neck;

a stem extending away from said cap member axial with and into saidopening, said stem having a cross-sectional shape and dimension proximalto said cap corresponding to the shape and dimension of said opening;and wherein said outer member at the periphery of said opening engagessaid stem when pressed in said direction toward said neck.

8. A closure as recited in claim 7 wherein said stem has a smallerdimension distal from said cap in relation to said proximal dimension.

9. A closure as recited in claim 8 wherein said opening is defined by aninner wall of said outer member extending toward said neck.

10. A closure as recited in claim 3 wherein said resilient meanscomprises at least one protrusion integral with said cap member, saidprotrusion extending away from said neck and toward said outer member.

11. A closure as recited in claim 10, wherein said protrusion comprisesmeans for coupling said outer member to said cap member when depressedtoward said neck.

12. A closure as recited in claim 11 wherein said cap member comprises amaterial having a high elasticity factor.

13. A closure as recited in claim 12 wherein said outer member comprisesa material having a low elasticity factor.

14. A closure comprising:

a compliant inner member having a rim adapted to engage the neck of acontainer;

a non-compliant outer member surrounding said inner member andpreventing expansion thereof and collecting means with saidnon-compliant member and engaging the extremity of said compliant mem- 6ber. 15. A closure as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

spring biasing means interposed between said inner I and outer members;and wherein movement of said outer member axial with the direction ofsaid spring bias relieves said colleting means, whereby a secondmovement of said outer member transverse to said first movement causessaid inner member to move away from said container.

16. A closure and container arrangement comprising:

a container having a neck with an opening therethrough;

a lip surrounding the extremity of said neck;

a cap member positioned over said opening and comprising a flexible sidewall having a rim fitting around said lip;

an outer member surrounding said cap member and comprising a side wallengaging and restraining said flexible side wall; and

means for interposing a spring bias between said members in a directionsubstantially parallel with the axial direction of said opening.

17. A closure and container arrangement as recited in claim 16 furthercomprising means for coupling said outer member to said cap member onlywhen said outer member is depressed toward said neck and against saidcap member.

18. A closure comprising:

a compliant cap member having a side wall with a depending rim adaptedto engage the neck of a container;

an outer member having a non-compliant side wall enclosing said capmember side wall and preventing expansion thereof, said outer memberside wall including a collet about the extremity thereof engaging theextremity of said cap member side wall; and

means for providing resiliency between said cap and outer members in adirection axial with the neck of said container, said resilient meanscomprising a portion of one of said cap and outer members.

1. A closure adapted to be secured on a neck of a container of the typehaving a lip surrounding at least a portion of the periphery of saidneck, said closure comprising: a cap member adapted to fit over saidneck and having a flexible side wall adapted to engage said lip; meansfor limiting the expansion of said flexible side wall and means forproviding resiliency between said cap member and said expansion limitingmeans.
 2. A closure as recited in claim 1 wherein said expansionlimiting means comprises an outer member having a side wall surroundingsaid flexible side wall of said cap member.
 3. A closure as recited inclaim 1 wherein said resiliency providing means comprises a portion ofsaid cap member.
 4. A closure as recited in claim 2 wherein saidflexible side wall further comprises: a rim at the extremity thereof,said rim adapted to engage said lip; and wherein removal of said closureis only facilitated by first depressing said outer member in a directiontoward said neck so as to decouple said rim from said lip, andsimultaneously pressing against said sidewall of said outer member andaway from said neck at a point distal from said lip, so as to move saidrim over said lip.
 5. A closure as recited in claim 4 further comprisingsaid side wall of said outer member having a crimp overlapping said rim.6. A closure as recited in cliam 4 further comprising means for couplingsaid outer member to said cap member when said outer member is depressedtoward said neck.
 7. A closure as recited in claim 6 wherein saidcoupling means comprises: said outer member having an openingtherethrough substantially axial with said direction toward said neck; astem extending away from said cap member axial with and into saidopening, said stem having a cross-sectional shape and dimension proximalto said cap corresponding to the shape and dimension of said opening;and wherein said outer member at the periphery of said opening engagessaid stem when pressed in said direction toward said neck.
 8. A closureas recited in claim 7 wherein said stem has a smaller dimension distalfrom said cap in relation to said proximal dimension.
 9. A closure asrecited in claim 8 wherein said opening is defined by an inner wall ofsaid outer member extending toward said neck.
 10. A closure as recitedin claim 3 wherein said resilient means comprises at least oneprotrusion integral with said cap member, said protrusion extending awayfrom said neck and toward said outer member.
 11. A closure as recited inclaim 10, wherein said protrusion comprises means for coupling saidouter member to said cap member when depressed toward said neck.
 12. Aclosure as recited in claim 11 wherein said cap member comprises amaterial having a high elasticity factor.
 13. A closure as recited inclaim 12 wherein said outer member comprises a material having a lowelasticity factor.
 14. A closure comprising: a compliant inner memberhaving a rim adapted to engage the neck of a container; a non-compliantouter member surrounding said inner member and preventing expansionthereof and collecting means with said non-compliant member and engagingthe extremity of said compliant member.
 15. A closure as recited inclaim 14, further comprising: spring biasing means interposed betweensaid inner and outer members; and wherein movement of said outer memberaxial with the direction of said spring bias reLieves said colletingmeans, whereby a second movement of said outer member transverse to saidfirst movement causes said inner member to move away from saidcontainer.
 16. A closure and container arrangement comprising: acontainer having a neck with an opening therethrough; a lip surroundingthe extremity of said neck; a cap member positioned over said openingand comprising a flexible side wall having a rim fitting around saidlip; an outer member surrounding said cap member and comprising a sidewall engaging and restraining said flexible side wall; and means forinterposing a spring bias between said members in a directionsubstantially parallel with the axial direction of said opening.
 17. Aclosure and container arrangement as recited in claim 16 furhtercomprising means for coupling said outer member to said cap member onlywhen said outer member is depressed toward said neck and against saidcap member.
 18. A closure comprising: a compliant cap member having aside wall with a depending rim adapted to engage the neck of acontainer; an outer member having a non-compliant side wall enclosingsaid cap member side wall and preventing expansion thereof, said outermember side wall including a collet about the extremity thereof engagingthe extremity of said cap member side wall; and means for providingresiliency between said cap and outer members in a direction axial withthe neck of said container, said resilient means comprising a portion ofone of said cap and outer members.